Well, there’s always Windom. Not too shabby.
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Yeah Windom is definitely not shabby, but there are clear improvements with Sunlight in most areas. I want it all! I’ll continue to let Sunlight burn-in, and hopefully FedEx delivers my new HDMI cable today.
really, Sunlight went from awful to wonderful for me. Gritty to smooth and very dynamic. I like smooth and dynamic.
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And the aforementioned “Factory SD card” could also play some role. Maybe order one.
I believe you, and actually I should know better, because every other update has taken more than a week to burn-in before sounding it’s best.
Guess I just like to torture myself.
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I get that. I tried silver XLR cables for the same reason, but was too bright for me. Did not want to risk the cost of silver speaker cables.
Previous speakers were A7s that I chose over D7s for that reason; no regrets. The Classic Series is a great fit for my classic tastes (Zepplin, Stones, Yes, Floyd) and ambient.
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@Gary_M, interesting observation on the horn rendition thru Sunlight in your system, as I experienced the opposite in that just about any stridency in horns be it trumpet, clarinet, or any passages that my B&W’s struggled with before is now a very clean, smooth, articulate and controlled rendition. I will say that adding a P3 was also instrumental in smoothing out my highs before Sunlight, especially high key piano strikes, i believe I posted that in January that the correct piano rendition was worth the price of the P3 in my system. Also, room treatment, damping etc. DSD>BHK-Pre>M1200’s>B&W801s, AnalysisPlus Cabling, LightHarmonicsLightSpeedUSB, WireWorldPlatinumHDMI, Cheers and good luck
I also ordered a pre-formatted SD card with Sunlight from PS Audio which I do each time, and have never had a negative experience.
Just as a comment on silver in interconnect cables, I use Siltech and Crystal Cables. Both are silver and there is no harshness or exaggeration. My primary cables are Iconoclast copper. There’s nothing but lovely, smooth music from all of them.
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Thanks for the feedback. My room is very well treated, and I’m using an Audience aR6 power conditioner. Perhaps a regenerator would sound better, but the horns didn’t send me over the edge with Windom, but they are now. Need to figure it out.
Fully agree, did this myself. But, for the first time since all sw versions, it seems that i can actually increase the toe-in until full straight to listening toe-in. First evening of listening showed no hardness and! beautiful soundstage. I had to increase my subwoofer somewhat, but that’s easy. Try it yourself, could surprise you! Have to do more listening though to be sure.
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I received my Sunlight SD card from PS Audio yesterday. The installation was easy, and I have kept the DS DAC on constantly since last night. It’s probably too early to say much about my impressions of sound quality, but even after just 24 hours of “settle-in” I’ve re-learned a very basic rule of high-end audio: EVERYTHING MATTERS!
Before installing Sunlight, I was happily using Windom and had recently replaced my 29-year-old Straightwire speaker cables with a set of Cardas cables. With the old cables, I had been able to hear some very nice changes in clarity, high-frequency realism, and “life” as a result of cleaning up my USB streaming with an ENO Ethernet filter and an Innuos Phoenix USB Reclocker. I’d also been able to reduce noise in my system through using decent Shunyata power cables on all my major components (Innuos Zen, DS DAC, BHK Pre, M700s). I retired my old speaker cables in the hope of removing just a bit more of brightness/edge that I get with my Thiel speakers. The new Cardas wires did remove that edge (and made bright recordings much more listenable), but they also made the mid and high frequencies a bit too soft. I was just thinking about searching for speaker cables that would increase resolution and clarity a bit without losing smoothness and sweetness, when Sunlight arrived on the scene.
Sunlight has provided enough of a boost in clarity that it has brought back life to my system and (I hope) saved me from spending more time and money on trying new speaker cables. By reducing noise in my system (through power cables and USB filter/reclockers), my system has become much more tolerant of higher resolution sound reproduction without triggering fatigue due to glare/brightness. And the slight softening from my new speaker wire is balanced out by the increased clarity provided by Sunlight.
This all has me empathizing with people who now need to tweak a few things (settings, cables, filters, speakers, room treatments, etc.) to optimize using Sunlight in a system that was originally optimized for Windom. But I think the effort will be worth it because Sunlight brings some magic with it.
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Okay the tweaking continues. Received my Harmonic Technology Magic HDMI cable. I bought it used so no need for break-in. When I first installed it I was very disappointed, it actually sounded worse than the stock HDMI cable. I took a deep breath and shilled, and thought to myself give it time to settle in and relax, as it came tightly wound up. That was hours ago, I’m now spellbound by the improvements this single cable has brought to the table. First off, it was exactly what the ordained Shaman high priest ordered, smoother highs!, but that’s just a small piece of the pie of what this cable offered up. Overall tonality is much closer to real instruments, especially the piano, and trumpets as well. Might be the biggest bang for the buck upgrade I’ve ever made, and best of all it let’s the sun shine through in all its Glory.
All is restored in the universe, for now.
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I suggest, as I said in a previous post (Sunlight: Sound Impressions - #531 by B.Gelinas), trying a good quality Kubala-Sosna XLR cable like Expression (more better). It may remove the edge.
I was blessed with having a dealer nearby who had such a cable as a demo and I borrowed it and it made all of the difference. I ended-up buying the demo cable (cheaper than brand new).
Hopefully, you can borrow one yourselves and try it.
These cables are expensive - not sure I would buy one just to try.
But, if you live in the USA (I don’t - I live in Canada, Montreal), it may be easier for you to borrow such cables from nearby retailers or buy them cheaper on the used market.
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I’ve read reviews on Kubala-Sosna cables in the past and I know their known for their natural presentation. I think I found one of the weakest links in my system, the stock HDMI cable, and have corrected it with a better cable. This upgrade should satisfy me for a few months at least. Thanks for the recommendation, and I’ll keep an eye out for them on the used market.
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@SDL which Cardas cables did you get?
Hearing a fair amount of clicking when playing an SACD. When I first played an SACD with Sunlight I thought I only heard a few clicks immediately after switching from CDs to SACD, or vice versa, and then the clicking stopped. This time I listened to an entire SACD and heard faint clicks throughout the entire disc. Anyone else experiencing this?
It might help to diagnose if you run the bit perfect test. It sounds like perhaps either the source isn’t configured quite right or perhaps there’s something marginal in the digital connection.
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The source is PST. I just purchased a used Harmonic Technology HDMI cable, perhaps that’s what’s causing the issue. I’ll try installing the stock HDMI cable and see if it continues or not. It doesn’t make any clicking sounds when playing cd’s however, if that tells you anything.
Small changes in the volume can possibly not affect PCM audibly but still corrupt a significant portion of DSD. But I don’t know of a volume control (before the DS) in that path.
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